“Yeah and so did I.” The look of confusion crossed her face again and so I clarified it for her. “The biggest mistake I ever made was to let you into my life.” Her face dropped but I wasn’t done yet. “I should never have let you in. I should never have trusted you. I sure as hell should never have loved you, and I’m glad you left when you did so you couldn’t fuck up my life any more than you already have.”
Dante’s voice broke through my speech. “Luc.”
“I suggest you leave, Mia. I’ll give you one chance. Leave now and I’ll let you live your pathetic, mediocre life.”
“Luc!” I turn around to see Dante stood there, looking shocked.
This was too much. I couldn’t keep a lid on any of my feelings and they were all scrambling to come out on top. I needed to leave and be away from everything. “Take her back to wherever you found her,” I told Dante. I should have known that he’d disobey my orders in regard to her. He had grown a relationship to Mia that was similar to our own, but it pained me that he had chosen her. “I don’t want to see her face around here again. Understand?”
“Bro,” he said, trying to appeal to our brotherhood.
“No!” I pushed him out of the way, but he grabbed a hold of my shoulders to stop me from leaving.
“Just hear her out.”
Without processing what I was doing, I balled my fist, drew back and punched him straight in the jaw.
Chapter Twelve
Dante
Pain shot through my jaw and my eyes burned as I staggered backward from the blow. I didn’t think twice before launching myself at him when I recovered from the shock. We hadn’t been in a proper fist fight since we were teenagers, and I vaguely remembered Charlie pulling us apart. But there was no one here that could stop us now. This fight had been brewing for ages, and Luc’s swing had broken the weakening resolve we both held.
The adrenaline flooded my body as the both of us scrapped. We moved out of the kitchen and into the hallway, fists flying. I could taste the tang of blood and felt every blow that Luc dealt. There was a spark of joy seeing him bleed at my hands. I’d been itching to hit him for so long. His attitude toward life had become distasteful and I longed to be the one to knock some sense into him, the way Charlie would have had he still walked this Earth. It was purely out of respect for the fact Luc was my boss that I had held back from the first hit.
Beneath the sounds of fists and elbows connecting with flesh and blood thundering in my ears, I could hear Mia trying to get us both to stop. She had more sense than to try and pry us apart. There was more for her to risk by getting in between us, but the fact there was no effective referee seemed to spur us both on.
When I had moved here, when I’d met Luc outside the church, he was the sullen kid that everyone avoided. Even at ten years old, he had an energy about him that was dangerous and foreboding. That, and the fact that everyone and their mother knew Charlie Foster had a hand in some shady business or other, kept Luc in an isolated bubble of his own. None of that had stopped me from sticking a foot into his life. Two lonely kids who, reluctantly on Luc’s part, became friends. Nothing I heard or saw changed our bond. With my own deadbeat Dad out of the picture, Charlie was my father as much as he was Luc’s. When the rest of my family, apart from Mama, turned their backs on me, I couldn’t have given less of a fuck because I was a Foster in everything but blood.
After Maria’s diagnosis and Charlie’s death, I witnessed the way Luc withdrew from everything and everyone. The fear that I’d lost my brother to grief and stress sat heavy in my chest, and I did everything in my power to pull him out of it. Mia was a blessing in more ways than one. She drew Luc out of the darkness and gave us all hope. I had my brother back and the family that had slimmed in number began to grow again.
Her departure had caused an ever-growing chasm between us and I had struggled to find a way to close the gap. I refused to believe that this would be the end of our family. I wasn’t about to lose this fight.
“Stop it! Both of you!” Mia yelled.
As I took another swing at him, Luc grabbed my arm and shoved me up against the wall. It was difficult to get the upper hand when you knew how someone fought but Luc had managed it.
“I broke it once and I’ll break it again,” he hissed as a searing pain ran through my arm. I gritted my teeth at the thought of being in a cast again. That incident had confirmed to me just what role Mia would play in our lives. Luc wasn’t going to let her go with ease and I held out hope that was still true. “You’re really starting to piss me off, Dante.”
“I could say the same about you,boss.” I spat out the last word sarcastically. Luc had behaved less like a leader and more like a child as of late. Professional enough in the office but uninhibited when he was away from it all. There was movement as he reached for something and my heart sank. Luc was rarely ever unarmed when he went out and that fucker was about to play dirty when I had nothing on hand. I struggled against his grip to try and free myself. I might not have been afraid of death, but I sure as hell wasn’t walking with the Reaper without putting up a fight.
“Don’t you dare!”
The shot that followed was unexpected and loud. Luc dropped me from his grip and Cerberus began to bark loudly. The scent of gunpower filled the air around us. Luc woke from the stupor before I did, but only by a beat. I pushed myself away from the wall quickly and moved to Mia, who stood there with a gun in her hand, knuckles white from the severity of the grip. Luc rounded on her, a feral look in his eyes, and I wedged myself between the pair of them. I had promised on my vow that I wouldn’t let him hurt her and I intended to keep that promise even if it meant I paid with my life.
“Do you want to play at being a gangster, Mia?” Luc asked her, wild in the eyes and looking scarily close to unhinged. He seemed to have no problem with the fact that I stood as a barrier in front of her. He had pressed himself against me and I could feel the swell of Mia’s hidden bump against my back. “You want to walk back into my life and play my game?! You won’t win. You don’t even know the fucking rules!”
“Fuck off, Luc!” I told him, drawing myself up to full height and moving my head so that Mia was no longer in his line of sight. We locked eyes for a brief moment, and I could sense what was coming before the words had a chance to leave his mouth. We had spent so many years together that it was second nature to anticipate Luc’s moves. One of the reasons he was successful, and in the right frame of mind Luc would agree, was because there was a level of trust and understanding between us that went beyond work. We were family in the truest sense of the word. I had no interest in trying to overthrow Luc. He had always been more cut out to lead than I was, but what was good for him was good for me and so my job was not without its benefits.
“You need to pick a side, Dante,” Luc said calmy, refusing to break eye contact. “It’s either me or her. If you don’t show up to work tomorrow, if I find you’re still harboring her, then I know exactly where you stand.” He then looked past me, over my shoulder at Mia. “You won’t get another free shot, Mia. Try it again and I’ll make sure it’s the last move you make.”
Luc turned on his heel and stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut so hard that the frame shook. I stared at the empty space after him before my eyes fell to the bullet hole in my sofa and then, slowly, I turned around to face Mia. I held my hand out to her and she deposited the gun into it. “Well, that didn’t exactly turn out the way I thought it would,” I said. “Have you lost your mind? Taking a shot at Luc.”
“I wasn’t aiming for him.”
“Oh, brilliant. I’m glad to know that my sofa offended you that much. What were you thinking, Mia?”
“He was going for his gun. I wasn’t going to watch him hurt you, D. I didn’t think. I wasn’t going to shoot him.” With each word she became more hysterical. I placed the gun back into the drawer she had grabbed it from and pulled Mia into my arms, hugging her tight against my body, and she squeezed me in return. I was grateful she’d thought quick enough, but it had derailed my plans for a calm and collected reunion between the pair.
